Don't Let Go
by Snotwing
Summary: In any decent love triangle you'll find two men fighting madly for the affections of the woman they love. Well, Tony flubbs his role. Gibbs and Abby agree-Tony couldn't have picked a more rotten time to be 'mature'. What does Ziva think?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is in response to a request from Aqiran, who asked for a TIVA fic that starts out with Ziva in a strong, steady relationship. I know this has been done many times before, and that TIVA isn't exactly my forte, but I hope you'll read this anyway. Hopefully I'll manage to give this a unique spin (I plan to include the whole family in this fic, just so you know) and not disgrace the characters that I'm only borrowing temporarily (that would be my disclaimer, pay attention!).

Well, enjoy!

** * ** * ** * **

Ziva checked her reflection for the fourth time in the last twenty minutes. Mentally, she ticked off each item as she assessed her appearance just _one_ more time. Hair – perfect. Earrings – both match. Star of David – present, and lying flat in the hollow of her throat, and framed by her fancy, low cut, backless gown. Her makeup was tastefully done – she had been a little heavier on the eye shadow than usual, but it added a hint of mystique.

She turned, posing so that she could see how the back fell. The silky forest green material hugged her curves. There was no hint of tasteless panty lines, nor was there any noticeable bulge of a concealed weapon – mainly because she only carried one knife, and it was disguised as a hairpin.

Facing forward again, she ran her hands over her flat stomach, smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle or two. Winking at her reflection, she glided half a step forward, carefully observing how much leg became visible through the one ankle to mid-thigh slit. The dainty gold stilettos sparkled as she moved.

The sleeveless gown left her arms bare – maybe too bare?

Half frantically, she sorted through her jewelry box for an appropriate bracelet. Her stomach pulled another one of the acrobatic stunts it had been doing all night.

She smirked at the irony – she, former assassin, sometime spy, and highly trained weapon of the Mossad, was nervous.

No, she was not _just_ nervous; she was nervous because of a _man_.

It was pathetic, really, but she _liked_ this man. She liked this man _very much_.

Ziva wished that Tony were here to google her. She grinned as she pictured his slack jaw and bulging eyes as he stared at her in all her splendor. Ziva _knew_ she was hot. She knew Tony thought she was hot, but it was still nice when it was _obvious_ that Tony thought she was hot.

His escalator eyes gave her goose bumps.

She shivered – and then shook herself, delivering a swift mental headslap, Gibbs-style.

What was she thinking, going all moon-eyed at the thought of _Tony_ when she was "In Love With" _Travis_.

Travis was perfect.

Well, fine. Maybe he was not _perfect_ – Ziva was just cynical enough not to believe in perfection. She did not believe in love, either, come to think of it.

But she did believe in Travis. After spending the last six months putting the poor man through the gauntlet, forcing him to prove his affections again and again, Ziva had consciously chosen to trust him.

"_See, Z, that's your problem. You don't trust anybody." Tony leered at her mockingly. "You're gonna turn around and realize you're an old, lonely biddy one day, and there won't be a thing to do about it."_

The Israeli winced at the remembered words. If she were being logical, she might force herself to admit that DiNozzo had probably meant that as 'friendly advice', but had been rather overwhelmed and alienated during the Gibbs-went-to-Mexico-without-so-much-as-farewell period.

Then, Tony had seemed to take Gibbs' absence as the cue to be as much as an asshole as he wanted because there was no one around to curb him.

But Gibbs was back, and Tony was once again being held in line.

And Ziva had Travis.

She clasped a bracelet onto her left wrist, as if resolving the 'issue' with a physical action.

Three minutes – and another once-over – later the door bell rang.

_Travis_

Ziva smiled warmly and went to greet her boyfriend.

** * ** * ** * **

Tony sighed.

He was spending another lonely Friday night sitting in his apartment staring at his scotch.

Ziva was out with Travis _again_.

She'd been seeing him for nearly six months – and she still hadn't brought him 'round to the office yet. In fact, she hadn't even told anyone that she was in a relationship – much less that she was very serious about it.

But, then, given her record with boyfriends and the Team's (Tony's) propensity for running them off, it was a reasonable decision.

Even so, Tony and Gibbs had thoroughly vetted the guy. Tony had even enjoyed a few games of pool with the man in the early months of his and Ziva's relationship.

Even Tony had to admit that the man was good for Ziva.

Travis Kinsey, former Navy ROTC officer and IVY League business school grad, had a perfect record. No criminal background, 3.85 GPA, 3 formal commendations from different commanding officers, and a clean medical background.

He had a high paying job, healthy sense of humor, provided intelligent conversation, and even worked with several non-profit organizations, giving both his money and time to those less fortunate than him.

A real boy scout.

Tony sighed again.

Travis made Ziva happy.

He downed his scotch.

More than anything, Tony wanted to see Ziva happy.

** * ** * ** * **

Gibbs patiently sanded his boat, drinking a little more bourbon than he would on a normal evening.

Ziva was celebrating her six month anniversary with Travis tonight.

She still hadn't said anything to them about her 'mystery man'.

Even more disturbing, however, was the fact that _Tony_ hadn't said anything.

_Damnit_, but the stubborn man was trying to do the 'noble' thing by allowing Ziva to make her own decisions – after, of course, having thoroughly checked 'Trav's' background.

Although, Gibbs had nearly had to _prod_ Tony into action on that front – not a good sign.

Gibbs knew that Tony "cared very deeply" for Ziva and that Ziva had, at least at one point, returned his feelings with interest. But neither of them had ever acted on anything.

Gibbs closed his eyes and growled his frustration.

A rift had developed between the two when he'd run off to Mexico. Tony had put the _team_ first, even though it meant alienating his _friends._ He shouldn't have had to make that decision.

And he was still paying for it – but Gibbs couldn't really tell DiNozzo _not_ to do the noble thing.

He gulped another glass of bourbon.

Whatever happened with Travis, Gibbs knew that Tony would go out of his way to make sure Ziva was happy.

And as long as Ziva was happy, Tony would survive.

** * ** * ** * **

**A/N:** Okay, so mushy much… sorry, I'll work on that. Yes, I know it's short – I'll try to do better next time. I plan to update this and WTB? Alternately – even though I have a really full schedule right now. Still feedback = inspiration and inspiration leads to all night long writing binges which means long and frequent updates, so please review!


	2. Chapter 2

He was the luckiest man on earth.

Travis Kinsey smiled to himself as he puttered around his girlfriend's kitchen, doing his best to throw together an _edible_ breakfast. It was Sunday morning, and, so far this weekend, there had been no signs of any inconvenient cases popping up for Ziva's team.

He'd had Ziva all to himself for their weekend half-anniversary.

And it had been brilliant.

At first, Travis had worried that he and Ziva wouldn't last. Both of happen to be incredibly stubborn, very devoted to their jobs, and not used to or comfortable with normal, healthy relationships. At only six months, they had had many rough patches.

But somehow they had pulled through.

Last night Ziva had seemed so relaxed and – trusting.

Trust.

Travis opened the cupboard in which he knew the coffee was kept.

Ziva had admitted early on that it was difficult for her to trust _anyone_. Travis still didn't know a whole lot about her professional background – other than that it was very classified – or even much about her family – again, other than that she didn't seem them much.

She always tried to be honest with him, when she could. And, up till now, it had been enough.

So, he was happy.

There was a slight rustle of cloth and he reacted, grabbing the coffee pot and preparing to throw and dodge.

"Travis"

Before he remember the pertinent who, what, where details.

He sighed. He had some of his own 'classified' issues, but Ziva always seemed to understand.

She smiled apologetically and walked over to hug him.

"What were you thinking about, that you did not hear me come?"

Travis wondered how he should handle this one. He decided play it cool.

"After last night, what do you think I would be thinking about?" He tagged on an affectionate grin.

Ziva sniffed delicately before answering.

"Apparently not breakfast," she teased, nodding toward the … eggs. He hesitated to call the charred lump in the frying pan "eggs". Neither, however, could it be called "breakfast".

After frantically taking care of the mess – with Ziva laughing all the while – he offered to go out for breakfast.

"Yes, please." Ziva grinned. "With strawberry cream cheese and the good coffee."

"What makes you think I'm going to Granny's Bagel Shop? There are a dozen other breakfast establishments nearby, you know."

"Because you know I like Granny's bagels."

Well, he couldn't argue with that.

"Granny's bagels it is. I'll be back in ten."

Travis received a quick smooch before being ushered out the door by his hungry girlfriend of six months and counted.

He couldn't help but smile.

** * ** * **

Ten minutes later, Travis was waiting rather impatiently in an unusually long line.

Granny's Bagel Shop was a small family owned establishment that had a reputation for good coffee and superb home-baked, made-from-scratch bagels. The bagels were so good, Gran's didn't even offer doughnuts or yogurt.

Still, it was unusual for it to be busy so early, especially on a Sunday.

Looking around, Travis noticed that the majority of the crowd seemed to be teenagers. Occasionally, he spotted a long-suffering adult, no doubt 'supervising' minors.

An unexpectedly chipper voice called his attention to a group just entering the little shop.

"All right!" The tall, rather familiar figure addressed his own group of five teenagers. "You guys can order whatever you want. Just remember that I'm a poor government employee –" his tone turned plaintive "and stay under five dollars apiece. Got it?"

The group nodded and quickly choose the line they deemed to be the shortest. The man threw up his hands and turned slightly – enough so that Travis finally got a good look at his face.

"Tony!"

The man turned towards him instinctively.

Travis grinned.

He'd met Tony in a bar several months ago. Come to think of it, it had been barely two months after he'd started dating Ziva. Things had been rough for him – both professionally and personally.

At work a new scandal had developed – one of the relatively new hires decided to sell company secrets to a competitor. The result had been a disastrous mess for all parties involved, including himself.

At home, Ziva was moody and _silent_. Something work-related was bothering her and she had refused to talk to him about it.

So he had taken a break – he left Ziva at her house, brooding, and his cell phone in the car – and gone to his favorite bar to relax.

Instead, he met Tony.

It was unbelievable how easy it was to talk to a complete stranger. The alcohol may have helped, but Travis had by no means been drunk – barely even tipsy.

He hadn't had to be.

Ten minutes or so after he'd arrived, Tony had waltzed right up to him – completely ignoring his defensive body language – and announced that he'd been pegged as a pool player.

Without allowing him time to object, Tony had pulled Travis over to one of the free tables and rustled up two opponents. The game and the friendly banter had been soothing.

As the game wore on, Travis found his guard dropping. He answered Tony's questions honestly, and, many times, was taken aback by the other man's scarily astute observations.

At the end of the night they had exchanged phone numbers – Travis was appalled by this the next day, but he reassured himself that there was _no way_ Tony could be gay – and promised to catch a game together sometime.

They hadn't, of course. Travis felt awkward about his encounter with the stranger and Tony had never called him.

He hadn't mentioned it to Ziva, pushing it out of his mind as irrelevant.

Seeing the man again, however, made him curious.

"Oh, hey, er, Travis." Tony looked shocked at first, but quickly recovered. "Been awhile. How's it going?"

"Great, it's going great." It really was. "What brings you here… with your current company?"

Travis had never liked children – and that went double for teenagers.

"You're kidding me, right?" Tony gave him a comical look of complete disbelief. "There has to be dozens of flyers all over this neighborhood!"

He frowned. Why would he bother to read local flyers?

"Faugh." Tony made an exasperated sound in the back of his throat. "Special Olympics is in town – my group are volunteers."

"Ah, giving to the community." Travis wouldn't have expected something like that from Tony, but, then he'd only spent four hours with him.

"Yeah, something like that." Tony shrugged, glancing over his shoulder and 'his group'. "So, how are things with the girlfriend? I kinda wondered how that turned out."

Travis recalled having vaguely explained the situation to Tony over their 'victory' toast at the end of the night.

"Well-" his cell phone rang. Reflexively, he pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. "Excuse me, that's her right now."

Tony nodded sagely and drifted back a step.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. It was nice to see you again." He extended his hand, which Travis dutifully shook. "We really should catch a game sometime."

"How about next weekend? Virginia versus Ohio." Travis surprised himself with the offer – but what could it hurt, really? Tony seemed like a decent fellow and Travis was tired of watching football with co-workers who had never participated in _any_ kind of sport.

"That's nice, but –" Tony stopped, wincing, as Travis' phone reached its crescendo. The annoyingly loud rings cut off abruptly and it was Travis' turn to wince. He needed to call Ziva back, soon, lest she decided to come after him – just to make sure he was okay, of course.

"Look, I'll give you a call, ok? I still have your number, I think. We'll make plans then." Travis saw Tony's attempt to decline, but he _was _a business man. He decided not to take no for an answer.

Opening his phone, Travis hit speed dial. "Have fun with the whole Special Olympics thing."

Tony, clearly recognizing his not-so-subtle dismissal, smiled cheerfully and rejoined the excitable teenagers.

"Travis!"

"Hey, Ziva." Travis tried to sound contrite. "Sorry I didn't answer earlier. Granny's is really busy today and I bumped into a friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah. Hey, it's my turn to order – I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

"Yes, fine."

Something in Ziva's tone sounded off, but Travis ignored it. He'd ask her about it when he got back. For now he was busy trying to remember what kind of cream cheese Ziva had asked for.

** * ** * **

Tony was screwed.

Travis recognized him.

That was _not good_.

Gibbs had practically ordered Tony to 'check out' Ziva's new boyfriend when she refused to talk about him at work. Gibbs and Abby had helped with the background check, of course, but Tony was the designated undercover agent.

It might have been easier just to show up at Ziva's place with some lame excuse when he knew Travis would be there. However, he had been particularly annoying to Ziva that week, asking too many 'prying' questions.

He was sure Ziva would see right through that ploy and quickly give him the boot.

Not only would he not accomplish his goal, but he'd attract Ziva's awful wrath.

So he'd had Abby set up a trace on Trav's phone so that Tony could find him that weekend. He'd been prepared to bump into the man at a grocery store or in some random parking lot when his target showed up at a bar.

Tony had taken advantage of the situation, easily getting the information that he wanted.

And then, after reporting to Gibbs and Abby, he'd forgotten about the whole ordeal.

Now he was reminded.

Consequences – right.

Travis had recognized him _and_ invited him over for _football_.

If Ziva ever found out that Tony had basically stalked her boyfriend for a while, he was _so_ dead.

Maybe he could talk Gibbs into coming along for protection.

** * ** * **

**A/N:** Alrighty – here you go, another shortish chapter. Please read and review.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, Tony."

He glanced sideways to see Abby regarding him with a determined expression.

"Why haven't I met Ziva's boyfriend yet?"

He groaned.

"Why are you asking _me_?"

"Well, I asked Gibbs, but he told me you were on it." Abby frowned at him. "You _are_ on it, aren't you? You should be. I know Ziva hasn't been very nice to you recently, but she is still Ziva. And you kinda asked for it."

Tony sighed. He hated being reminded – he _had_ been a bastard recently. Of course, he had his reasons. After talking with Travis in the bar, he'd realized what Ziva was doing. She was taking all her frustrations home.

And Ziva really deserved to be happy, so Tony had made a point to give her a chance to _unload_ before she left for the day. Of course, it meant that Ziva was more or less miffed at him _all_ the time. But he was okay with that – really.

"Why don't you just ask Ziva? After all, Travis is _her_ secret boyfriend."

"That's just it, Tony!" Abby spun around to face him again, waving a pink fluffy pen for emphasis. "Travis is her _secret_ boyfriend. I'm not even supposed to know about him. Neither is Gibbs or McGee or _anyone_. So you have to talk her into bringing him by."

"What – why me?"

"Because, Tony, you're the only one that can get away with it."

Tony grumbled to himself.

"You mean I'm the only one stupid enough to make her mad by admitting to being nosy."

Abby smiled.

"Exactly Tony." She stopped smiling. "You have until the end of the week."

Tony did the math in his head.

It would all be blown on Saturday anyway. If he took Travis up on his offer, he'd be made. If he 'politely declined' he'd be soused out for sure – how many obnoxious "Tony DiNozzos" could there possibly be?

Well, his dad was in New York, so that probably wouldn't fly. He sighed.

"Fine – it's not like I enjoy walking around in one piece, anyway." Tony shook his head, thinking to himself that Ziva was going to be beyond pissed when he showed up Saturday to causally catch a game with her boyfriend. He ought to practice his ignorant look – he knew Ziva would never belive his innocent puppy-dog eyes. "I could be like the Headless Horseman – only without any fingers and toes… because, you know, Ziva's gonna cut them off – but I'll still haunt you."

Abby smiled sympathetically and patted him on the back, deciding to ignore the haunting comment.

"I have a coupon for that chocolate that Ziva likes – and maybe some perfume, too."

Tony sighed.

"DiNozzo!"

For once, Tony's startled jerk was genuine. He turned around to face a curiously stern Gibbs.

_Huh, _he wondered_, what the hell have I screwed up this time?_

"Did you super glue Ziva's _hand-written_ report to her desk?"

Really, why Gibbs bothered asking him such questions, he would never know.

"I had a really good reason, Boss."

"Tony!" Abby looked one part aghast and two parts reproving. He clearly wasn't helping his case.

His boss snorted.

"Tony, I'm ordering you to stand down." The words were spoken sternly, brooking no argument, but Gibbs threw in a truly intimidating glare for good measure.

"What? Boss, I've no idea what you're talking about." _Please, please don't mean what I think you mean._

Gibbs continued to scowl at him. Tony put on his most innocent expression, knowing full well that it had never fooled either of the people currently in the room with him.

Abby snort her amusement and Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"I don't know what Gibbs thinks you're up to, Tony, but whenever you pull out the goo-goo eyes, I _know_ you're guilty."

Tony sighed.

"Boss…"

"No, Tony." Gibbs took a step closer. "You _will_ stand down. Ziva has to learn to take care of herself."

Tony growled. Ziva was _his_… partner. He would always take care of her – Grumpy Gibbs or no Grumpy Gibbs.

"Tony…" Gibbs sighed, and his expression softened a bit. Abby reached up to grip Tony's arm sympathetically. "It's not your job any more – it's that Trevor guy's. Either get serious or let go."

Tony's eyes hardened. Gibbs had been pressuring him recently about the Travis issue.

Travis wasn't the first guy Ziva hitched up with he wasn't even the first _serious_ date she'd brought home.

And, always, it was Tony's job to evaluate anyone Ziva so much as looked sideways at. If 'he' was under-par, Tony was tasked to get rid of him. There'd always been some very good reason that this or that guy wasn't good enough for Ziva –

Until Travis.

Of course, Gibbs had disagreed, but Tony refused to 'off' Travis. Gibbs had dropped the matter… mostly.

Gibbs was not a subtle man.

He was just sometimes hard to read – for people who didn't know him like Tony did.

Little hints, warnings, and mild threats had peppered their daily banter, but Tony would not let himself be swayed.

Travis made Ziva Happy.

Therefore, Travis stayed.

And Gibbs could just rot in his damn elevator.

** * ** * ** * **

It was Friday night, with the Saturday evening football game just around the corner. Travis was uncharacteristically excited about the next day's get together.

It just so happened to be the first 'event' that he and Ziva would be hosting together. They had both invited guests – although Ziva had made a point of excluding both of their co-workers. Travis got the feeling that the people Ziva worked with were more than just 'coworkers', but she refused to say much about them. He had learned not to push the subject – she would introduce him when she was ready, not an instant before.

And he wouldn't ask her to.

Honestly, they both had dark scary secrets that they hid behind clichés such as "what's past is passed" or "the present is the only time that counts". Travis didn't ask about Ziva's past – he didn't question her when she refused to go on carnival rides, slept with a gun on the nightstand, showered with the door open, or bought erasers by the pack. She had a lot of strange quirks that Travis didn't understand – but he never asked.

But Ziva never questioned him, either, and that made his silence worth it.

Travis shook his head – he was being far too pensive for a Friday night.

Ziva was working late, but had called to say that they'd just caught a major lead on their current case. She expected to have everything wrapped up in a tidy bundle before Saturday.

Thinking about Saturday again, Travis decided to distract himself with a trip to the grocery store. He and Ziva had already stocked up on the common fare – chips, dip, beer, hotdogs, and etc. – but he justified the trip by rationalizing that they hadn't any diet sodas or dairy-free dips.

A car door slammed outside and Travis' mind darted back to one of his many dark, scary secrets. He firmly shut off that line of thought – instead, he concentrated on listing all the foods he was going to hunt down at the grocery store.

Tony had said something about liking pork rinds once.

Travis added pork rinds to his mental shopping list.

* * *

Tony DiNozzo slammed his head down on his desk in obvious resignation. Tim and Ziva were nowhere to be seen. They'd jetted before Gibbs had even finished dismissing them. Abby was puttering around in her lab, and Ducky was teaching Palmer to play a Chinese poker game thingy in the break room. The bull pen was mostly empty, but that made it all the more noticeable.

Gibbs was staring at him again.

He didn't know how – nor did he care to know – but he was certain Gibbs had learned of his plans for the weekend.

For once Tony couldn't tell whether Gibbs approved or not – he had the half formed opinion that _Gibbs_ didn't know whether he approved or not.

But that didn't really matter much. Whether his mentor approved or not, Tony was going to watch some football on Saturday.

Er, well – he'd catch the second half, at least, after Ziva kicked him out of her boyfriend's house.

Tony grumbled under his breath, head stilled plastered to the sticky surface of his messy desk. He could _feel_ the boss glaring at him.

Huffing in exasperation, Tony levered himself up to meet his boss' gaze.

"Hey, Boss," he said, deliberately contrasting his irritated facial expression with a bright, cheerful tone. "I've been invited to watch the game tomorrow at a friend's house. Well, not really 'friend' I guess. We met at a bar." Tony paused, giving Gibbs a flat look. Gibbs just raised an eyebrow. "Apparently it's gonna be quite a party – casual, with just enough people you don't know to guarantee at least one awkward situation apiece. Care to tag along?"

"I'm driving."

Fan-fucking-tastic.

** * ** * ** * **

**A/N:** Wow, I really don't know why Tony is so upset. What's the worst I could do to him? Anywho, thanks for reading and please drop me a review. Hopefully the next update will come much sooner than the last.


End file.
